Autopsy The good, the bad and the oh dear v St Kilda

[Ischenko]

Wardlaw fantastic. Thought Jy cracked in hard and his stats probably don't do him justice. Corr's best game for the year, gave King a bath. LMac was ok too. And Comben. And Archer.

There were times today when we looked like a football team, so I'll take that. Still hard to see a win on the horizon but you could see the outlines of something today. Had many instances where we got out the back and had a 2 on 1 in the forward 50 but almost inevitably we butchered the kick. St Kilda are shit and I hate their team and most of their fans but we had a legit crack and with a bit of luck and better execution could have made it interesting at the end. LDU is an enigma, sometimes he just doesn't try, sometimes he bleeds for us. Liked the Pink sub. Drury is limited but we should persist.

Soft efforts from Zurharr cost us heaps of momentum at crucial times. His stats look ok but he's not playing team oriented football. I'd drop him. And then let him go.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

That was our best chance for a win.

-Fisher is horrible. Just a horrible anti-North footballer.
-Wardlaw was best on. He and Sheez need to get fitter and run that midfield.
-Larkey is out of form. Burning Zurhaar for an easy walk in goal was unforgivable.
-our structure looked okay at times with Scott on the wing and someone able to give an option
-Simpkin doesn’t have a role or spot in this team
-Corr and McDonald actually were quite good.
Corr dominated King. Had him in his pocket all day
-Tucker, Shiels and Stephenson offer nothing to the side. Nothing.
Stephenson should be delisted and paid out at seasons end.
-LDU looks like someone who is hating his footy and doesn’t want to be there. Like a frustrated Alpha having to play with kids and a useless ruck
-I hope Goad is an elite ruck because if we carry Xerri as the number 1 going forward then this rebuild is going to be butchered. Horrible footballer.

LDU has genuinely checked out.

We have destroyed him.

The club is cooked.

 

[Ischenko]

When people try to spin our all-too-common hopelessly uncompetitive games as just what happens in a rebuild, I think this is the sort of game they're actually thinking of - still barely in it once they got scoreboard separation early in the second quarter, still letting the opposition transition the ball through the midfield far too easily on occasion, still stuffing up the skill execution side of things too often... but, crucially, with some actual investment shown and actual glimpses of sustained competitiveness. That shouldn't feel like a positive (a loss like this is not a 'good loss' or 'moral victory' or whatever, merely the kind of mundane defeat you'd normally be disappointed by but accept will happen when young and rebuilding), but given the depths we've plumbed over the last few years, I'll take it.

Wardlaw has obviously shown signs of what we can produce already, but he found more ways today to use his manic intensity to create, and really I think what lift we had largely stemmed from him - outstanding game today. Not sure if it was just a consequence of the Saints' dour style of play, or maybe the complete inability of the umpires to remember that holding the ball is a rule in this sport, but one thing I've been heavily critical of this year is how readily we give up easy possession from stoppages - there's basically no null option, either we win it or lose it and if it's the latter we're defenceless - and today we seemed much better at neutralising the contest, which if we can carry that forward should help stem the rough patches plenty.

Backline looked to benefit from having Archer down there, worth persisting with. As is, bizarrely, Pink as a forward - presented well, perfect hit-up kick to Larkey from the HFF (dropped...), competes, and the structure almost immediately seemed to work smoother with him there. +1 for selecting players who err on the side of overzealousness over guys who show up only to collect their paycheque - the balance is still awry there (a few decisions made today by players who seemed to care more about padding their portfolio than the team option...), but it's a step in the right direction.

Really important now that this becomes the minimum standard. Mistakes will happen, energy levels will flag occasionally, everybody understands that for a team in our predicament - but the kind of effort and interest shown today needs to be non-negotiable.

Fantastic post.

 

[winalotroos]

* off campaigner

A bit rough

 

[Ischenko]

Much happier after that. We’ve got some ripper players and the pressure in parts finally stepped up to a more acceptable level.

Stevo was not good. Liked Archer a lot.

Saints fans who booed Jy can get in the bin. Graceless.

They're a legitimately putrid bunch on the whole. The constant applause for Webster made me sick. They have exactly the history and future they deserve. Oh, and Max King is a spud.

 

[Themanbun]

Wardlaw is our best mid, which says a lot. LDU is unaccountable and needs two top line defensive mids to cover his deficiencies and Powell ain't up to it unfortunately.

Yes we will finish last and we'll pick Smillie or another top line mid, but hopefully we're smart enough to get some currency for our not so good ones.

 

[Themanbun]

Also **** whoever delisted Mase

 

[Roosurgence]

Today was an old fashioned battle of two very shit sides.

The only positive thing walking away from the ground, was that I am not a St Kilda supporter.

That list is closer to a rebuild than a genuine chance to be at the pointy end of the ladder.

Ross will suck the life out of that club and will **** off.

They are in no man’s land and will be there when the Tassie side comes in.

They pretty much won on the back of our brain fades and nothing they brought to the table.

Only a bunch of deadshits would cheer a bloke that is a guenuine sniping piece of shit and carry on like he was a hero. Pack of dribblers the lot of them.

 

[DuckYeah]

A bit rough

Sorry, my sense of welcoming opposition flogs in our therapy sessions has worn thin

 

[DuckYeah]

Also * whoever delisted Mase

he needed to be booted to pull his head out of his arse, plus he’s still not that good.

 

[spurs]

LDU has genuinely checked out.

We have destroyed him.

The club is cooked.

Nearly every post I see from you is negative crap. If you don’t like us playing then **** off.

 

[Passmore]

Chief does call himself the Mr.Beast of internet football forums.

My mental image of chief

Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk

 

[winalotroos]

Sorry, my sense of welcoming opposition flogs in our therapy sessions has worn thin

 

[The acurate one]

Wardlaw = The Hulk
McKercher = The Flash
Sleevo = The Shitmen

EFA

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Nearly every post I see from you is negative crap. If you don’t like us playing then * off.

Don’t read them then.

The club is ****ed. We’re the worst side this side of WWII.

It’s fully deserved.

 

[DuckYeah]

There was a kick inside 50 where ldu tried to lace out PC in the pocket. He saw pink on his own but chose the harder option.

To be perfectly honest, Pink up forward actually looked ok. Just ok, better than ccj okay..

 

[the_cleaner]

was really proud with wardlaws effort. he seemed to play well after his rest and looked like the only continued the intensity set in the first quarter. easily his best game for the club.

disappointed with larkeys effort today, only seemed to really get in the game when he was in the ruck otherwise was quite a poor game by his standards. 30-40 points losses are the closest we are getting to the wins these days. how sad is that.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

There was a kick inside 50 where ldu tried to lace out PC in the pocket. He saw pink on his own but chose the harder option.

To be perfectly honest, Pink up forward actually looked ok. Just ok, better than ccj okay..

It gave us two key forwards to kick to.

Which is a welcome change.

 

[William Caresser]

Soft efforts from Zurharr cost us heaps of momentum at crucial times. His stats look ok but he's not playing team oriented football. I'd drop him. And then let him go.

Spot on - shocking effort after the Wardlaw smother. But also his workrate off the ball is atrocious. It only takes one player not to man up or work back and he's regularly the laggard. Happy to see him go.

 

[winalotroos]

Don’t read them then.

The club is ****ed. We’re the worst side this side of WWII.

It’s fully deserved.

Don’t know if we are ****ed I think what I saw today was encouraging, but sometimes some of us see things differently.

 

[giantroo]

 

[berniemccarthy]

Sorry, my sense of welcoming opposition flogs in our therapy sessions has worn thin

Who do these flogs think they are. We have just lost another one in a run of about 30 and some twat thinks we will be grateful for their sanctimony. Just sod off.

 

[tales129]

It will click at some point but I still worry about two things.

1. Since half time against freo our ability to defend transition ball from our forward line is hopeless. How teams continually get a loose and what our structure behind the ball is supposed to look like is bemusing. First bounce led to a secondary stoppage. Brad hill moves from the forward flank to the wing and NAS went directly loose behind the ball. If we are happy to let that go we are ****ed, especially when we play with one key forward, structure looked better when pink came on but the game was gassed.

2. Our decision making is ****ed. We have two good passages of rebound handball a game. We are constantly trying to go fast and don’t have the capacity to be patient when we need to. Too often we make ****ing horrific decisions on the basis of going quick, then when we wait we kick down the line. Need to really just take our time and go side to side until we can rip the cord up the middle or hard forward.

Oddly I feel better after today. Hardeman needs more exposure as he’s clearly playing nervous but on instinct has some great overlap running efforts and defends relatively well apart from that one missed tackle:

 

[The Dougster]

I love the big Souv but he cannot be considered as a future captain until he stops pleading with the maggots and taking himself out of the contest

 

[The Dougster]

McDonald wasn't great but was okay. I've hated him all year so feel like I should be fair.

No howlers this week. Was our best captain today.